Thursday, May 2, 2013

Awful journey of Hemophilia victims

With the non availability
of free Anti Hemophilic Factor (AHF) in government hospitals people
with hemophilia (PwH) are suffering hard to get treatment. There
are instances of People have sold their property to bear the
expenditure of treatment. Sharing their agony, Hemophilia patients
requested government to make treatment available at affordable cost,
if cant supply it freely.

Mahesh
resident of Maddur with tears in eyes said: “my two sons were
infected with hemophilia since birth. My wife Bhagyamma committed
suicide along with my second son, depressed over the issue.” Now,
Mahesh is leading life with his elder son 12-year-old Appusri Gowda,
who is PwH.

18-year-old
Nataraj, an 2nd year B.Com student is undergoing treatment from four
months of baby. His father Paremsh, an Agriculturist said “to
provide treatment I sold portion of the land. With the non
availability of drugs in government hospitals, where are facing lot
of problems.”

Patient
Kempegowda of Somanahalli, Hunsur Taluk said his son and grand son
are suffering from hemophilia. “The treatment is very expensive and
cant be beard by a common man. We have walked from pillars to post
seeking help, but no one looked towards us. Government should look
into this issue seriously.”

Karnataka
was the first state to provide medicine for Hemophilia patients with
a BPL card. But unfortunately as it was not included in the State
budget the supply of these medicines has been stopped since three
years.

According
to Doctors An average of Rs 1.5 is needed for a patient. In houses
about 2-4 persons have Hemophilia and the economic condition of the
families makes people their life misery. For 250 ML of vial it costs
Rs 3475 and for 300 ML about 5,500.

Hemophilia
Federation of India Vice President Vikash Goyal said 16,000 people in
country, 1500 in state and about 89 in Mysore are identified with
Hemophilia.

Hemophilia
cases are increasing in country and identification of undiagnosed
people is a big challenge. 80 per cent1.2 lakh people of people in
country are suffering with Hemophilia and about 70 per cent of
Hemophilia patients become disabled, he added.

He
said, HFI has submitted a memorandum to government seeking allocation
of Rs 20 crore in the budget for treatment and provide a special
hemophilia ward in government hospitals. But still their demands have
remained unaddressed.

Virkam
Hospital Dr Anjali Arun said that the Hemophilia disorder can lead to
death and patients suffer from severe joint and muscle bleeding.
Girls, women have bleeding in gems.

About
Hemophilia

Hemophilia
is a genetic, life-long threatening bleeding disorder, incurable in
nature and a very expensive to manage in terms of medication and
care. The major challenge is treating poor people with Hemophilia as
most of the patients are economically poor.